Engaging in meaningful activities (e.g., leisure, spiritual, fitness) significantly affects caregivers' quality of life (QoL), yet the determinants of participation in caregivers of Autistic children remain largely unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParents of Autistic children often modify their participation in leisure, social, and employment activities to meet the caregiving needs of their child. However, few studies have examined the impact this has on caregiver quality of life (QoL). The aim in the current study was to examine the role of participation in a range of activities on QoL amongst primary and secondary caregivers of school-aged Autistic children.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The relationship between obesity and mental health is complex and is moderated by the level of obesity, age, sex, and social and genetic factors. In the current study, we used a unique co-twin control design, with twin pairs discordant for body mass index (BMI), to control for shared genetic and environmental effects between obesity and several dimensions of mental health.
Methods: We studied 74 monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs, of whom 36 were BMI-discordant (intra-pair difference in BMI ≥ 3 kg/m2), and 77 dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs (46 BMI-discordant).
The wider stress literature points to negative associations between stress and well-being. Similarly, the use of engagement coping strategies and disengagement coping strategies in the face of stress are related to improved and reduced well-being respectively. However, in the autistic population stress and coping research is limited to date, and the extent to which coping may moderate the relationship between stress and well-being is not known.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAutism omics research has historically been reductionist and diagnosis centric, with little attention paid to common co-occurring conditions (for example, sleep and feeding disorders) and the complex interplay between molecular profiles and neurodevelopment, genetics, environmental factors and health. Here we explored the plasma lipidome (783 lipid species) in 765 children (485 diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)) within the Australian Autism Biobank. We identified lipids associated with ASD diagnosis (n = 8), sleep disturbances (n = 20) and cognitive function (n = 8) and found that long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids may causally contribute to sleep disturbances mediated by the FADS gene cluster.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe stress literature suggests that coping strategies are implicated in mental health outcomes. However, the longitudinal relationship between coping strategies and mental health in the autistic adult population has not yet been examined. This 2-year longitudinal study examined the predictive role of both baseline and change in coping strategy use over time (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFContext: The neutral amino acid transporter SLC7A10/ASC-1 is an adipocyte-expressed gene with reduced expression in insulin resistance and obesity. Inhibition of SLC7A10 in adipocytes was shown to increase lipid accumulation despite decreasing insulin-stimulated uptake of glucose, a key substrate for de novo lipogenesis. These data imply that alternative lipogenic substrates to glucose fuel continued lipid accumulation during insulin resistance in obesity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) precursor nicotinamide riboside (NR) has emerged as a promising compound to improve obesity-associated mitochondrial dysfunction and metabolic syndrome in mice. However, most short-term clinical trials conducted so far have not reported positive outcomes. Therefore, we aimed to determine whether long-term NR supplementation boosts mitochondrial biogenesis and metabolic health in humans.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEmerging studies allude to high stress in autistic adults. Considering the detrimental impact of stress on health outcomes, examining individual resources which may influence the extent to which stress is experienced (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCompared to the general population, mental health difficulties are commonly reported in autistic adults. However, the ways in which coping strategies are associated with mental health and well-being in this population remain unknown. Further, we do not know if, and if so, how these associations might differ to that of non-autistic adults.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhite to brown/beige adipocytes conversion is a possible therapeutic strategy to tackle the current obesity epidemics. While mitochondria are key for energy dissipation in brown fat, it is unknown if they can drive adipocyte browning. Here, we show that the mitochondrial cristae biogenesis protein optic atrophy 1 (Opa1) facilitates cell-autonomous adipocyte browning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is increasing interest in the potential contribution of the gut microbiome to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, previous studies have been underpowered and have not been designed to address potential confounding factors in a comprehensive way. We performed a large autism stool metagenomics study (n = 247) based on participants from the Australian Autism Biobank and the Queensland Twin Adolescent Brain project.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCell state transitions control the functional behavior of cancer cells. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) confers cancer stem cell-like properties, enhanced tumorigenicity and drug resistance to tumor cells, while mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) reverses these phenotypes. Using high-throughput chemical library screens, retinoids are found to be potent promoters of MET that inhibit tumorigenicity in basal-like breast cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHypothesis And Background: The role of the subscapularis in reverse shoulder arthroplasty (RSA) remains controversial. Studies have shown that subscapularis repair has no significant influence on the functional outcomes of patients. However, few studies have assessed the postoperative integrity of the subscapularis tendon after RSA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFResilience has been depicted as a key characteristic in the promotion of mental health in the face of stress and adversity. Despite high levels of stress encountered in the autistic population, resilience studies remain scarce. Using data from an Australian longitudinal adult study, this study explored the inter-relationships between trait resilience, coping, and mental health in a sample of autistic adults (N = 78).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTissue-specific mechanisms prompting obesity-related development complications in humans remain unclear. We apply multiomics analyses of subcutaneous adipose tissue and skeletal muscle to examine the effects of acquired obesity among 49 BMI-discordant monozygotic twin pairs. Overall, adipose tissue appears to be more affected by excess body weight than skeletal muscle.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: To evaluate the impact of cold fermentation time on bagel rolls, the key aroma-active compounds in the volatile fractions obtained from three different bagel rolls through solvent assisted flavor evaporation (SAFE) were sequentially characterized by an aroma extract dilution analysis (AEDA), quantified by stable isotope dilution and analyzed by odor activity values (OAVs) respectively.
Results: Findings revealed 40 aroma-active compounds with flavor dilution (FD) factor ranges of 2-1024. Of these, 22 compounds (FD ≥ 16) were quantified by stable isotope dilution assays (SIDA).
Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition whose biological basis is yet to be elucidated. The Australian Autism Biobank (AAB) is an initiative of the Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC) to establish an Australian resource of biospecimens, phenotypes and genomic data for research on autism.
Methods: Genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism genotypes were available for 2,477 individuals (after quality control) from 546 families (436 complete), including 886 participants aged 2 to 17 years with diagnosed (n = 871) or suspected (n = 15) ASD, 218 siblings without ASD, 1,256 parents, and 117 unrelated children without an ASD diagnosis.
Context: Mitochondria are essential for cellular energy homeostasis, yet their role in subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) during different types of weight-loss interventions remains unknown.
Objective: To investigate how SAT mitochondria change following diet-induced and bariatric surgery-induced weight-loss interventions in 4 independent weight-loss studies.
Methods: The DiOGenes study is a European multicenter dietary intervention with an 8-week low caloric diet (LCD; 800 kcal/d; n = 261) and 6-month weight-maintenance (n = 121) period.
Background: Sugaya classification is a widely accepted classification system that is used to analyze postoperative rotator cuff tendon integrity. However, there are inconsistencies in the literature as to whether type 3 Sugaya should be considered as a retear or healed tendon.
Purpose: We aimed to show that type 3 Sugaya is not a retear by comparing the long-term supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscle degeneration and the functional outcomes of type 3 with those of type 4 and 5 Sugaya.
We conducted an epigenome-wide association study meta-analysis on blood pressure (BP) in 4820 individuals of European and African ancestry aged 14 to 69. Genome-wide DNA methylation data from peripheral leukocytes were obtained using the Infinium Human Methylation 450k BeadChip. The epigenome-wide association study meta-analysis identified 39 BP-related CpG sites with <1×10.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Results of anatomic shoulder arthroplasty for glenohumeral osteoarthritis with severe glenoid retroversion are unpredictable with a high rate of glenoid loosening. Reverse shoulder arthroplasty (RSA) has been suggested as an alternative, with good early results. We sought to confirm this at longer follow-up (minimum 5 years).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe anterior horn of lateral meniscus tear is usually repaired using outside-in technique. Although easy to perform, it was associated with several complications which may alter the outcome of the surgery. Here, we present a case of an adolescent girl presented with incomplete discoid lateral meniscus accompanied by tear of anterior horn.
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